System and method for assessing cardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness from adipose tissue

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for assessing cardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue. One method includes identifying a vascular bed of interest in a patient&#39;s vasculature; receiving a medical image of the patient&#39;s identified vascular bed of interest; identifying adipose tissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometric vascular model comprising a representation of the patient&#39;s identified vascular bed of interest; and computing an inflammation index associated with the geometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityto U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/654,698, filed Oct. 16, 2019,which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/746,972,filed Oct. 17, 2018, each of which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally tocardiovascular disease assessments and related methods. Morespecifically, particular embodiments of the present disclosure relate tosystems and methods for assessing cardiovascular disease and treatmenteffectiveness from adipose tissue.

INTRODUCTION

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. When apatient has vascular disease, an understanding of the severity of thedisease and the responsiveness of that disease to various treatments maybe developed. Diagnostic metrics, such as Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR),can be calculated from a Computed Tomography image (FFRct). Thesediagnostic metrics may provide functional information that can be usedto assess the severity of a lesion. Despite advances in technology forvascular disease assessment and treatment, some gaps remain. Forexample, FFRct calculated from a CT image may not match the FFR measuredinvasively from a patient. Further, different patients' disease mayprogress at different rates (sometimes leading to plaque rupture).Patients may also respond differently to medical and invasive therapy.

One area of recent study has focused on understanding the relationshipbetween epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and various clinical variables.Accordingly, a desire exists to fill existing gaps in cardiovasculardisease assessment and treatment, using knowledge of adipose tissue.

SUMMARY

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, systems andmethods are disclosed for assessing cardiovascular disease and treatmenteffectiveness based on adipose tissue. One method of assessingcardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based on adiposetissue includes: identifying a vascular bed of interest in a patient'svasculature; receiving a medical image of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; identifying adipose tissue in the receivedmedical image; receiving a geometric vascular model comprising arepresentation of the patient's identified vascular bed of interest; andcomputing an inflammation index associated with the geometric vascularmodel, using the identified adipose tissue.

According to another embodiment, a system is disclosed for assessingcardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based on adiposetissue. The system includes a data storage device storing instructionsfor assessing cardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness basedon adipose tissue; and a processor configured to execute theinstructions to perform a method including the steps of: identifying avascular bed of interest in a patient's vasculature; receiving a medicalimage of the patient's identified vascular bed of interest; identifyingadipose tissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometricvascular model comprising a representation of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; and computing an inflammation index associatedwith the geometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue.

In accordance with yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computerreadable medium for use on a computer system containingcomputer-executable programming instructions for performing a method ofassessing cardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based onadipose tissue. The method includes: identifying a vascular bed ofinterest in a patient's vasculature; receiving a medical image of thepatient's identified vascular bed of interest; identifying adiposetissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometric vascularmodel comprising a representation of the patient's identified vascularbed of interest; and computing an inflammation index associated with thegeometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue.

Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will beset forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will beapparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of thedisclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages of the disclosedembodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of thedisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system and network forassessing cardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based onadipose tissue, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary method for computing a patient's inflammationindex, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary method for assessing cardiovascular disease andtreatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary vascular model providing the basis for ablood flow model's boundary conditions, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of thedisclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be usedthroughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. As usedherein, the term “exemplary” is used in the sense of “example,” ratherthan “ideal.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.Diagnostic metrics for cardiovascular disease (e.g., FFRct) may becalculated from a CT image, e.g., a computed tomography angiography(CTA) image. Patient images (e.g., CTAs) may also reveal substantialinformation about the patient's disease, including the degree ofstenosis, the plaque composition associated with that stenosis and theamount and composition of adipose tissue present in the local vascularbed. The present disclosure aims to leverage information about apatient's adipose tissue, to improve cardiovascular disease assessmentand treatment. The present embodiments describe systems and methods forusing information about a patient's adipose tissue to improve blood flowmetric accuracy (e.g., FFRct calculation accuracy), so that calculatedFFRct may better match invasively obtained FFR. The present embodimentsalso include systems and methods for using information about a patient'sadipose tissue to better predict patient disease progression andresponse to therapy.

In particular, the present system and methods describe computing apatient-specific inflammation index that may serve as a representationof the patient's adipose tissue volume, location, composition, andrelationship to other clinical variables. Each patient's inflammationindex may help to assess the patient's disease, predict the patient'sresponsiveness to treatment(s), and improve accuracy of FFRctcomputations for the patient.

Referring now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of anexemplary system and network for assessing cardiovascular disease andtreatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue. Specifically, FIG. 1depicts a plurality of physicians 102 and third party providers 104, anyof whom may be connected to an electronic network 100, such as theInternet, through one or more computers, servers, and/or handheld mobiledevices. Physicians 102 and/or third party providers 104 may create orotherwise obtain images of one or more patients' cardiac and/or vascularsystems. The physicians 102 and/or third party providers 104 may alsoobtain any combination of patient-specific information, such as age,medical history, blood pressure, blood viscosity, etc. Physicians 102and/or third party providers 104 may transmit the cardiac/vascularimages and/or patient-specific information to server systems 106 overthe electronic network 100. Server systems 106 may include storagedevices for storing images and data received from physicians 102 and/orthird party providers 104. Sever systems 106 may also include processingdevices for processing images and data stored in the storage devices.Alternatively or in addition, the present disclosure (or portions of thesystem and methods of the present disclosure) may be performed on alocal processing device (e.g., a laptop), absent an external server ornetwork.

FIGS. 2 and 3 depict flowcharts of computing and applying a patient'sinflammation index. In particular, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplarymethod 200 of computing an inflammation index for a patient, based onmedical image data and a vascular model of the patient's anatomy. FIG. 3is a flowchart of an exemplary method 300 for using the computedinflammation index to assess the patient's disease or responsiveness totreatment. The methods of FIGS. 2 and 3 may be performed by serversystems 106, based on information, images, and data received fromphysicians 102 and/or third party providers 104 over electronic network100.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 200 for computing aninflammation index, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In one embodiment, step 201 may include receiving, using anelectronic storage medium, a medical image of a patient's vascular bedof interest. For example, step 201 may include identifying a patient anda vascular bed of interest in the patient's vasculature. A medical imageof the vascular bed of interest may then be received. The receivedmedical image may comprise a coronary computed tomography angiography(CTA) image in one or more cardiac phases and one or more imagereconstructions, a non-contrast cardiac computerized tomography (CT)image in one or more cardiac phases and one or more imagereconstructions, a dual energy (or multi-energy, spectral) cardiac CTwith or without contrast, a cardiac Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) inone or more cardiac phases and one or more imaging protocols, etc.Similar CT, CTA, or MRI images for other vascular beds, such as thehead, neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, or legs may also be received as themedical image of the patient's vascular bed of interest.

Exemplary step 203 may include identifying adipose tissue in thereceived medical image. The identification may be performed via methods,for example, thresholding the received image within a known adiposeimage intensity range, applying a fat/water separation system to an MRIreceived image to identify the location of adipose tissue within theMRI, training a machine learning classifier to identify locations ofadipose tissue within the received image, etc. Thresholding the imagewithin a known adipose intensity range may include noting adipose tissuewithin a received medical image based on signal intensities, e.g., inthe form of Hounsfield Units (HU). In some forms of imaging, adiposetissue may be represented by negative HU density values, whilenon-adipose tissue structures may be in a positive HU range. Prompting adisplay threshold of negative ranges, e.g., −190 and −30 HU may show anestimate of adipose tissue in a CT scan slice, in an exemplaryembodiment of step 203.

Alternately or in addition, identifying adipose tissue for step 203 mayinclude applying a separation system to the received image. Theseparation system may comprise a fat/water separation system e.g., a fatfraction map. An exemplary fat fraction may include a proton-density fatfraction map based on MR signal intensity factors, e.g., a density ofhydrogen protons from fat, proton signals associated with mobile fat,hydrogen proton density from various proton species, etc. Other forms ofadipose tissue segmentation may employ automated or semi-automatedalgorithms and machine learning techniques to detect adipose tissuewithin the received image. Bias field correction, clustering,thresholding, classification, edge detection, and maskingsteps/algorithms may be used in automated adipose tissue segmentationthat may employ machine learning.

In one embodiment, step 203 may include identifying adipose tissue in aregion of interest (ROI) of the received medical image. The region ofinterest may include the entire received medical image. In some cases,the entire medical image may be set as the default ROI if no specificROI is input by a user or other default setting. Another exemplary ROImay include the vascular bed of interest, such as the interior of theendocardium, interior of the pericardium, outer vessel wall, othermuscles (e.g., leg muscles, arm muscles, etc.), or other organs (e.g.,brain, kidney, liver, bowel, spleen, etc.). Yet another ROI may includean area or subsection of the received medical image identified/input bya user, automated machine learning algorithm, third party softwarepackage, default setting, etc. In addition to identifying adiposetissue, step 203 may include identifying and storing a location ofadipose tissue in the ROI. For example, step 203 may include associatingthe received medical image or ROI with a grid or coordinate system, andnoting the location of adipose tissue relative to the grid/coordinatesystem of the received medical image.

Step 205 may include receiving, using an electronic storage medium, aparameterized geometric vascular model associated with a location withinthe received medical image. The geometric vascular model may comprise arepresentation of the patient's identified vascular bed of interest. Thevascular model may include a vessel model representing any component ofthe vessel/vascular bed of interest, such as the lumen,internal/external elastic lamina, plaque deposit(s), or the outer wall.One exemplary parameterization may include a vascular modelparameterized by vessel centerline location coordinates, where eachcenterline location is additionally parameterized by a vessel radius.Another exemplary parameterization may include a vascular modelparameterized by identifying voxels within the received medical imagewhich is associated with the vessel.

Step 207 may include calculating or computing an inflammation indexassociated with the geometric vascular model, using the identifiedadipose tissue. For example, step 207 may include calculating aninflammation index associated with (or corresponding to) one or morelocations in the geometric vascular model (or vessel centerline) (e.g.,of step 205) using the information about adipose tissue in the receivedmedical image (e.g., of step 203). The inflammation index may accountfor EAT composition, including accounting for both EAT hypertrophy andEAT inflammation. EAT volume extracted from the CT image can be used tomeasure EAT hypertrophy, and the image intensity of the EAT can provideinformation on EAT inflammatory status. In one instance, an inflammationindex may be increased based on the extracted EAT volume/hypertrophy,and increased by another factor, based on the EAT inflammatory status.As one exemplary case, a patient may have a large, but relativelyun-inflamed volume or a small inflamed volume. In such a scenario, thepatient's inflammation index may be increased to reflect the large EATvolume, but not increased by a second factor since the volume isrelatively uninflamed. Had the EAT volume also been inflamed, theinflammation index may be increased by a second factor to reflect theinflammation. One of ordinary skill may recognize that other embodimentsmay include defining the inflammation index such that EATvolume/hypertrophy or EAT inflammatory status may entail reductions inthe inflammation index.

Because the distribution of inflammatory tissue can be heterogenous fora patient, a patient's inflammation index could vary depending on theregion of interest in a received image, vascular bed of interest, aspecified/selected vascular location or vessel in the vascular bed ofinterest, and area of identified adipose tissue. A patient could have adifferent inflammation index for different areas and locations of theirbody.

This inflammation index may be calculated in multiple ways. One methodmay include receiving a selected vessel in the vascular bed of interest,receiving a defined distance from the vessel, detecting (based on thereceived medical image) adipose tissue within the defined distance fromthe vessel, and quantifying the detected adipose tissue.

The received defined distance may comprise a distance from the selectedvessel from which adipose tissue may be measured. For example, thedefined distance may include a radius from the centerline of theselected vessel, from which adipose may be measured. This defineddistance may be defined because adipose tissue may not be directlyadjacent to a vessel, or bounded within the confines of a vessel, e.g.,by a vessel wall. Rather, epicardial adipose tissue may be between anepicardial surface of the patient's heart and a visceral surface of thepatient's pericardium, fully enclosed by the patient's pericardial sac,surrounding coronary arteries, near the patient's heart or in thepatient's mediastinum, or a combination thereof. The embodiments hereinmay refer to epicardial adipose tissue as including any pericardial fatdeposits, and can be extended to include paracardial, intra-thoracic,mediastinal fat and any other adipose tissue deposits in proximity toadventitial layer or outside the blood vessel. Accordingly, a distancerange may be used to define an area within which adipose tissue may beobserved as affecting the selected vessel or the vascular bed ofinterest. The defined distance may characterize the area within whichadipose tissue may be observed. The defined distance may be input by auser or automatically provided. The defined distance may vary, dependingon the inflammation index desired. For example, an inflammation indexfor a specific location in the vascular model for evaluating a giventreatment may include a short defined distance. An inflammation indexfor evaluating an entire vascular bed may include a long defineddistance, relative to the defined distance for evaluating the giventreatment.

Step 207 may include quantifying the amount of adipose tissue within thespecified distance. Alternately or in addition, step 207 may includequantifying a weighted amount of adipose tissue within the defineddistance, where each adipose location's contribution to the percentageis weighted by its distance to the selected vessel. For example, theadipose tissue could be weighted by a factor of 5 in close proximity tothe selected vessel and a factor of 1 at the limits or boundaries of theextracted or identified EAT volume. “Close proximity” may be defined bya pre-set, automatically determined, or user input distance range. Theinflammation index may be computed based on the quantified detectedadipose tissue.

Another embodiment of step 207 may include quantifying the percentage ofvoxels within the defined distance that contain adipose tissue and/orquantifying a weighted percentage of voxels within the defined distancethat contain adipose tissue, where each voxel's contribution to thepercentage of voxels is weighted by the distance to the vessel. Forexample, step 207 may include determining, from the medical image, apercentage of voxels containing representations of adipose tissue withinthe defined distance from the vessel. The detected adipose tissue maythen be quantified for this step 207, based on the determined percentageof voxels. Step 207 may include computing an inflammation index based onthe quantified detected adipose tissue.

Step 207 may also include using the vessel centerline of the selectedvessel to calculate a distance from the vessel centerline normal (e.g.,perpendicular) to the adipose tissue. Using this vessel normal, adistance-weighted or distance-unweighted percentage or absolute amountof adipose tissue in the normal direction may be computed. For example,step 207 may include detecting or receiving a centerline of the selectedvessel and detecting the adipose tissue based on the defined distancebeing perpendicular to the centerline of the selected vessel. Method 200may include calculating inflammation indices for one or more vessellocations in the vascular bed of interest. The inflammation indices maybe computed using any method for calculating inflammation, using anydefined distance.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 300 for assessingcardiovascular disease and treatment effectiveness based on adiposetissue, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.Method 200 discussed computing inflammation indices as indicators of theadipose tissue in a patient. Method 300 involves improving blood flowcomputations based on these computed inflammation indices. Method 300further entails using the improved blood flow computations to assesspatient disease and treatment.

In one embodiment, step 301 may include receiving a blood flow modelcomprising a physics-based computational fluid dynamics model associatedspecifically with the patient's vascular bed of interest. For example,the blood flow model may be based on the parameterized geometricvascular model (e.g., from step 205). In such a scenario, the blood flowmodel may be patient-specific, meaning, the blood flow model may bedirectly associated with the patient's anatomy, e.g., from the geometricvascular model. Each patient may have a distinct blood flow model, sincethe blood flow model may be dictated by the patient's unique anatomy.Various embodiments of blood flow models are disclosed, for example, inU.S. Pat. No. 8,315,812 issued Nov. 20, 2012, entitled “Method andSystem for Patient-Specific Modeling of Blood Flow,” which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

The blood flow model of step 301 may include boundary conditions. Theboundary conditions may provide information about the blood flow modelat its boundaries, e.g., the inflow boundaries 422 (FIG. 4), the outflowboundaries 424 (FIG. 4), the vessel wall boundaries 426 (FIG. 4), etc.The inflow boundaries 422 may include the boundaries through which flowis directed into the anatomy of the geometric vascular model 400, suchas at an end of the aorta near the aortic root. Each inflow boundary 422may be assigned, e.g., with a prescribed value or field for velocity,flow rate, pressure, or other characteristic, by coupling a heart modeland/or a lumped parameter model to the boundary, etc. The outflowboundaries 424 may include the boundaries through which flow is directedoutward from the anatomy of the three-dimensional model, such as at anend of the aorta near the aortic arch and the downstream ends of themain coronary arteries and the branches that extend therefrom. Eachoutflow boundary can be assigned, e.g., by coupling a lumped parameteror distributed (e.g., a one-dimensional wave propagation) model. Theprescribed values for the inflow and/or outflow boundary conditions maybe determined by noninvasively measuring physiologic characteristics ofthe patient, such as, but not limited to, cardiac output (the volume ofblood flow from the heart), blood pressure, myocardial mass, etc. Thevessel wall boundaries may include the physical boundaries of the aorta,the main coronary arteries, and/or other coronary arteries or vessels ofthe geometric vascular model 400.

Step 303 may include modifying a blood flow computation based on acomputed inflammation index (e.g., of step 207). In one embodiment, oneor more boundary conditions of the blood flow model may be modified toreflect a decreased microvascular response during hyperemia. For step303 then, a boundary condition of microvascular resistance may bedecreased based on the average (median, maximum) inflammation index in avessel, to represent dilation from chemically-induced hyperemia orexercise. The microvascular resistance may also be increased based on aninflammation index to represent a narrowing, blockage, or stenosis in avessel.

The blood flow model having boundary condition(s) modified based on thepatient's inflammation index may be used to compute blood flow metrics,e.g., fractional flow reserve (including FFRct). Alternately or inaddition, step 303 may include using the modified boundary conditions torecompute blood flow metrics, e.g., FFRct values. The recomputed bloodflow metrics may be evaluated to determine whether inclusion ofinflammation indices improves diagnostic accuracy. For example,recomputed FFR may be compared to invasively measured FFR. If the FFRrecomputed with using boundary condition(s) modified based on thepatient's inflammation index more closely matches FFR computed withoutboundary conditions modified based on the inflammation index, oneconclusion may be made that inflammation indices may be used to improvethe accuracy of noninvasive FFR computations. Such evaluations may bemade for blood flow metrics other than FFR, to determine whetherinflammation indices may improve noninvasive, simulated, or predictedcomputations of the blood flow metrics, e.g., vessel wall shear stress,axial forces, blood pressure, blood pressure gradients, transluminalattenuation gradient, plaque rupture risk, risk of embolism, etc.Machine learning methods may be used to adjust inflammation indexparameters in physiologic boundary conditions. For example, machinelearning techniques may be used to optimize expected accuracy ofcomputed blood flow metrics against measured blood flow metrics, e.g.,computed FFR against (invasively) measured FFR data.

Step 305 may include performing a blood flow computation, based on thecomputed inflammation index. For example, step 305 may includeperforming the modified blood flow computation of step 303. Step 307 mayinclude multiple ways of using inflammation indices to assess apatient's cardiovascular disease and response to treatment. For example,step 307 may include determining a measure of patient disease assessmentor treatment effectiveness, based on an inflammation index (e.g.,computed from method 200). Step 307 may also include outputting thedetermined measure of patient disease assessment or treatmenteffectiveness to a display or an electronic storage device. Theelectronic storage device may be accessed by, for example, by one ormore of the parties of FIG. 1, including server systems 106, third partyprovider(s) 104, and/or physicians 102. Some instances of step 307 oruses of the computed inflammation index for assessing patient disease ortreatment are included below. Any of these steps may be used inconjunction with the exemplary steps of method 200.

In one embodiment, methods 200 and/or 300 may include modifying theboundary conditions of a blood flow model to reflect a decreasedmicrovascular response during hyperemia. Specifically, the average(median, maximum) inflammation index in a vessel could be used toincrease or decrease a boundary condition comprising a value ofmicrovascular resistance in a selected vessel, to reflect dilation fromchemically-induced hyperemia or exercise. For example, a type, volume,or composition of adipose tissue may be associated with vessel(s)vasoconstricting under resting conditions or not vasodilating withincreased blood flow. Larger vessels may vasoconstrict under restingconditions from adipose tissue. In response, microvascular resistancemay lower to compensate for the large vessels' constriction. Duringhyperemia or exercise then, microvascular resistance may decrease less(from a resting state microvascular resistance to a hyperemic/exercisestate) than in non-inflamed or low adipose tissue areas/patients, sincethe microvascular resistance is already lower than microvascularresistance in a typical or healthy patient's resting state. Since thecomputed inflammation index reflects the patient's adipose tissue, themicrovascular resistance in a selected vessel may be adjusted tocorrespond to the vessel's contractile function based on the patient'scomputed inflammation index. A blood flow computation may then beperformed using the blood flow model with the modified boundaryconditions. In some embodiments, the blood flow computation may comprisean FFRct calculation. In this case, the measure of disease assessmentwould be the modified, resultant FFRct score.

In another embodiment, the step 307 may include modifying aninterpretation or threshold of a diagnostic blood flow metric, based onthe computed inflammation index. Because epicardial adipose tissue(indicated, quantified, or measured by the inflammation index) may belinked to coronary artery disease, a patient's computed inflammationindex may affect how their other diagnostic blood flow metrics areinterpreted.

For example, for the diagnostic blood flow metric of FFRct, an FFRctscore lower than 0.75 or 0.8 is commonly considered to be an indicatorof ischemia in a patient, where the ischemia is at a severity level atwhich invasive or interventional measures may be recommended. Theinvasive measures may include angioplasty or stenting. FFRct scoreshigher than 0.8 may be regarded as indicating a healthy patient, or atleast a vessel blockage that is not severe enough to warrant invasiveintervention. In some embodiments of step 307, the computed inflammationindex may be used to “calibrate” conventional blood flow metricthresholds. For example, if 0.8 is a commonly used FFRct thresholdvalue, one scenario may involve adjusting an FFRct threshold score to0.83, in light of a patient's computed inflammation index.

In other words, for this particular patient, an FFRct score of 0.83 (orlower) may prompt a recommendation for invasive treatment, in contrastto current uses of FFRct, in which invasive treatment may only besuggested for patients with FFRct scores of 0.8 or lower. One particularembodiment may include determining a threshold inflammation index, e.g.,based on inflammation indices calculated for a population ofusers/patients, where the threshold inflammation index may represent anobjective division between “high” inflammation indices versus “low”inflammation indices. The high inflammation indices may indicatequantities or locations of adipose tissue where a patient's epicardialadipose tissue is increasing their development of coronary arterydisease, whereas low inflammation indices may indicate where a patient'sepicardial adipose tissue is not negatively affecting their coronaryhealth. In this embodiment, if a user's computed inflammation indexexceeds the determined threshold inflammation index, their FFRctthreshold score may also be adjusted from the conventional threshold of0.8. For example, the adjusted FFRct threshold score may be 0.83 (ratherthan 0.8) if the patient's inflammation index exceeds the thresholdinflammation index.

In some cases, the diagnostic metric adjustment could entail adding orsubtracting a function of the inflammation index to the diagnosticmetric (e.g., a calculated FFRct in the vessel in which the inflammationindex is determined). In this case of step 307, the measure for apatient's disease assessment may comprise the patient's blood flowmetric (e.g., computed FFRct) relative to the modified diagnostic metricthreshold score (e.g., an adjusted FFRct threshold).

Another embodiment of step 307 may include using machine learning tounderstand how inflammation indices in a vessel correspond to heartdisease. For example, step 307 may include using machine learning andcomputed inflammation indices in a vessel to predict the localprogression or regression of plaque in a selected vessel of the patient.One approach for training the machine learning technique may includepredicting that plaque progresses if the local inflammation index isabove a first inflammation index threshold, and that the plaqueregresses if the local inflammation index is below a second inflammationindex threshold. The first inflammation index threshold and the secondinflammation index threshold may be preset, input by a user, learnedfrom machine learning processes, validated by population data, or acombination thereof. In this case, an exemplary output indicating ameasure of treatment effectiveness may include the prediction of plaqueprogression/regression if the patient is untreated.

Yet another embodiment of step 307 may include using the inflammationindex to assess the likelihood of plaque rupture (plaque vulnerability).This assessment could be performed by using machine learning on theinflammation index local to a plaque to predict rupture. Alternately orin addition, this assessment may include computing or calculating plaquestress (axial, wall shear, etc.) compared to plaque wall strength. Insuch a scenario, the plaque wall strength may be treated computationallyas reduced, where a patient has a high inflammation index. As previouslydescribed, a “high inflammation index” may be where a patient's computedinflammation index exceeds a predetermined “high” inflammation indexthreshold. In some cases, the plaque wall strength may be reduced a bypreset amount when the high inflammation index is identified. In othercomputations, the plaque wall strength may be reduced by an amountcorresponding to the extent to which the patient's inflammation indexexceeds the high inflammation index threshold.

In short, step 307 may encompass generating a patient disease assessmentor treatment evaluation based on the computed inflammation index. Theprecise use of the inflammation index, patient disease assessment, ortreatment evaluation may take many forms, including the ones detailedabove.

In summary, a patient's epicardial adipose tissue may impact their riskof cardiovascular disease. The epicardial adipose tissue may alsoinfluence the patient's responsiveness to treatment. The disclosedsystems and methods improve upon past cardiovascular disease assessmentsand treatments by accounting for the effects of epicardial adiposetissue in the patient. In particular, the disclosed embodiments describecomputing an inflammation index for each patient, to represent theepicardial adipose tissue of the patient. The disclosure furtherdescribes ways to use the computed inflammation index to improvecardiovascular diagnostics, predictions, and treatment recommendations.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for assessing cardiovascular disease andtreatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue, the method comprising:identifying a vascular bed of interest in a patient's vasculature;receiving a medical image of the patient's identified vascular bed ofinterest; receiving a selected vessel in the vascular bed of interest;receiving a defined distance from the vessel, the defined distance beinga distance from the selected vessel from which adipose tissue may bemeasured; detecting a centerline of the selected vessel; detecting,based on the medical image and on the defined distance beingperpendicular to the centerline of the selected vessel, adipose tissuewithin the defined distance from the vessel; identifying the adiposetissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometric vascularmodel comprising a representation of the patient's identified vascularbed of interest; computing an inflammation index associated with thegeometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue; andquantifying the detected adipose tissue.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: computing the inflammation index based on thequantified detected adipose tissue.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining, from the medical image, a percentage of voxelscontaining representations of adipose tissue within the defined distancefrom the vessel; and quantifying the detected adipose tissue based onthe determined percentage of voxels.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising: computing the inflammation index based on the quantifieddetected adipose tissue.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:modifying a blood flow computation based on the computed inflammationindex.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating apatient disease assessment or treatment evaluation based on the computedinflammation index.
 7. A system for assessing cardiovascular disease andtreatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue, the system comprising:a data storage device storing instructions for assessing cardiovasculardisease and treatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue; and aprocessor configured to execute the instructions to perform a methodincluding: identifying a vascular bed of interest in a patient'svasculature; receiving a medical image of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; receiving a selected vessel in the vascularbed of interest; receiving a defined distance from the vessel, thedefined distance being a distance from the selected vessel from whichadipose tissue may be measured; detecting a centerline of the selectedvessel; detecting, based on the medical image and on the defineddistance being perpendicular to the centerline of the selected vessel,adipose tissue within the defined distance from the vessel; identifyingthe adipose tissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometricvascular model comprising a representation of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; computing an inflammation index associatedwith the geometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue;and quantifying the detected adipose tissue.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein the system is further configured for: computing the inflammationindex based on the quantified detected adipose tissue.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the system is further configured for: determining, fromthe medical image, a percentage of voxels containing representations ofadipose tissue within the defined distance from the vessel; andquantifying the detected adipose tissue based on the determinedpercentage of voxels.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the system isfurther configured for: computing the inflammation index based on thequantified detected adipose tissue.
 11. The system of claim 7, whereinthe system is further configured for: modifying a blood flow computationbased on the computed inflammation index.
 12. The system of claim 7,wherein the system is further configured for: generating a patientdisease assessment or treatment evaluation based on the computedinflammation index.
 13. A non-transitory computer readable medium foruse on a computer system containing computer-executable programminginstructions for performing a method of assessing cardiovascular diseaseand treatment effectiveness based on adipose tissue, the methodcomprising: identifying a vascular bed of interest in a patient'svasculature; receiving a medical image of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; receiving a selected vessel in the vascularbed of interest; receiving a defined distance from the vessel, thedefined distance being a distance from the selected vessel from whichadipose tissue may be measured; detecting a centerline of the selectedvessel; detecting, based on the medical image and on the defineddistance being perpendicular to the centerline of the selected vessel,adipose tissue within the defined distance from the vessel: identifyingthe adipose tissue in the received medical image; receiving a geometricvascular model comprising a representation of the patient's identifiedvascular bed of interest; computing an inflammation index associatedwith the geometric vascular model, using the identified adipose tissue;and quantifying the detected adipose tissue.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 13, the method further comprising:computing the inflammation index based on the quantified detectedadipose tissue.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim13, the method further comprising: determining, from the medical image,a percentage of voxels containing representations of adipose tissuewithin the defined distance from the vessel; and quantifying thedetected adipose tissue based on the determined percentage of voxels.